A Good Opportunity to Stop and Listen

Sometimes, we just don’t take the time to toot our own horn. Applied Clinical Trials has grown and evolved over the years, on our quest to keep our readers, listeners, and viewers engaged with our breadth of clinical trials content. We tend to focus on case studies, insights, and articles that everyday professionals can access and use to inform their decision-making.

Over a year ago, Andy Studna, our associate editor, and I launched the Applied Clinical Trials podcast. While we promote them on social media, and in our e-newsletters, I’ve been remiss in calling attention to them in my monthly column.

Personally, I am more of a reader than a listener of words. But I also understand we all respond differently to that media choice. Our podcasts have been released twice a month, featuring professionals from all walks of clinical trials. And our guests never disappoint in providing new information, insights, or viewpoints that offer an “aha” moment. Here, I highlight just a few:

Otis Johnson, PhD, vice president, product line executive; chief diversity, inclusion, and sustainability officer, at Clario, points out that the latest FDA draft guidance to improve diversity in clinical trials actually doesn’t require diverse trials; it’s just a suggestion, but one that shouldn’t be ignored.

Salim Idriss, MD, PhD, executive co-director of the Duke Pediatric and Congenital Heart Center and director of pediatric electrophysiology at Duke University Medical Center, is part of a CSRC collaborative for a real-world evidence pediatric cardiac screening data warehouse. He suggests that without this non-competitive “safe” space construct of the CSRC, academia, FDA, and industry partners, this type of project would be impossible.

Kimberly Gentile, senior VP, clinical operations for Biohaven Pharmaceuticals, relates to the emotional ups and downs for clinical trials operations professionals when programs they work on succeed and when they fail.

Again, these are just a few examples of the great podcast interviews we have on our website. There are also podcasts available from our sister brands, Pharmaceutical Executive and Pharmaceutical Commerce, which you may also find interesting. Pharmaceutical Executive’s Editor-in-Chief Elaine Quilici and Group Social Media Editor Miranda Schmalfuhs were recently awarded the 2022 APEX Award of Excellence for the podcast. We only hope that one day our podcast will follow in their shoes!

Lisa Henderson is Editor-in-Chief of Applied Clinical Trials. She can be reached at lhenderson@mjhlifesciences.com.